10 most popular stories from 2009

Published on January 05, 2010.

From Cisco's 'Thrive' campaign to Building24, these were the most popular stories featured in the Inside Technology Marketing newsletter.

Cisco builds ‘Thrive' site campaign in eight weeks
Last fall, Cisco Systems' salespeople began reporting how customers were struggling in the difficult U.S. economy. In response, Cisco's marketing team rapidly created a program designed to speak to practical issues and solutions rather than lofty business ideals.

Cisco's marketing chief sits down with ITM
Marilyn Mersereau, senior VP-corporate marketing at Cisco Systems, recently spoke with Inside Technology Marketing about the changing role of sales and marketing within the technology company and previewed some of its 2009 initiatives. This January, Mersereau successfully led Cisco’s launch of “5 to Thrive,” a campaign that aims to help clients navigate the difficult economy.

Carter on IBM's social media push
Sandy Carter, VP-IBM Software Group Channels, recently spoke to ITM about social media and how it fits into the company's overall marketing strategy. Formerly the VP-SOA and WebSphere Strategy, Channels and Marketing, Carter continues to help IBM set and maintain its social media presence. Along with her own blog on the topic, she is the author of “The New Language of Marketing 2.0: How to Use ANGELS to Energize Your Market” (IBM Press, 2008).

EMC's ‘uber-integration' database marketing
Storage vendor EMC Corp. has 3 million leads in its database. While that’s an impressive number, it can be a burden—especially because that database contains leads from several companies EMC acquired.

SAP cultivates customer communities
As the software industry has consolidated and diversified, successful companies have increasingly been those that build an ecosystem of customers and partners who support each other and share customized programs.